Blade sharpener and the like



March 7, 1933. H- Q TRACY 1,900,374

pADE SHARPENER AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 18, 195o 6 lNvENToR, "j 4 5 /fvmerll Tmcj,

Patented Mar. 7, 1933 UNTED STATES BLADE SHARPENER THE LIKE Application filed January 18, 19.30. Serial No. 421,717.

rlhis invention relates to means for operating on articles by attrition, as on razor blades, and especially those of the fiat type, such as Gillette razor blades, to'polish and reiine or recondition them and their cutting edges, and its object is to provide means of this class which shall be simple and compact in construction and inexpensive to manufacture. The invention distinguishes from known means of this class in this respect: Given a pair of members adapted to clamp between them the article to be subjected to attrition and one of which is rotatively or otherwise sliolable relatively to the other on the interposed article, that one member (at least) has its article-clamping surface an attrition surface and that the article-clamping surface of each member opposes substantially the same degree of resistance as the other member to sliding of the article between them; in they example herein set forth both members have their clamping surfaces attrition surfaces of substantially equal frictional value and thus oppose substantially equal resistance to the sliding of the article between them. The inventiony also distinguishes from known means of this class in 1 j this respect: Given a pair of members adapti ed to clamp between them the article to be subjected to attrition and one of which is rotative `relatively to the other around an axis penetrating them, that each member has :its article-clamping surface an attrition surfa-ce and that one of said members has means coactive with the interposed article to confine it and the articleto relative rotary motion around an axis penetrating them; in the one of which is rotatively or otherwise s1id.

able on the clamping surface of the other, that the clamping surface of one is yieldable to thearticle and that the clamping surface of the other is an attrition surface;

`clamping relation to the first member;

-in the said example they clamping surfaces, of'

both members are yielding and attrition .surfaces, whereby the attrition action will vbe effective onboth bevels (on opposite 'faces) at the edge cfa razor blade. `In the said example the improved "means 1sV assumed to bey utilized in the polishing and reconditioning or refining of the edges of rapzervblades of the Gillette type ifandjby a simple manual operation. y. In the drawing; j Fig. l shows one member of my means held in one hand of the operator `with the blade therein and the other about to be 0placed in Fig. 2 illustrates the mannerl in which the ,said means is operated; and

Fig. 3 `is a transverse sectional viewof the said vmeans ,and interposed blade.

l designates the conventional Gillette safe-. ty razor blade having the central hole 2- opposite faces Vof the .blade to a cutting'edgei" Thetwo members .of my lmeans, are vcoun- .terparts4 of each rother vin these respects: Each is here shown ofgeneral disk-'like form havingv a diameter at least as .great as lthe,

'.'length of the blade; and each comprises ay metalv or other stiff back 'and a 'layerorpad .Gsecured theretoin any way (as by cement ing it thereto), the exposed vsurfacei of said layer forming its clamping and attrie,

` tion surface. The layer ,6 is here of yieldingH flexible materiahas leather, and .itrmay v'be treated, if desired, as razor strops kare treated, to ,increase or improve itsattritive action. Each layer 6 is here of such :nature as 'to'.oppose substantially'th'e samedegree of" resistance as the otherI to sliding of the blade l in contact with it. The two members have coacting means for centering ythem with relation to each other and the interposed,

blade, as a stem 7 on the back 5 of one pro truding through the layer 6 thereof and adapted to be received in the hole 8 of the other, extending through' the hole 2 of the blade. Protuberances 9 are formed to pro-:7,

ject from the exposed face of each back 6 to aord grips.

In treating the blade it is laced on one member as shown in Fig. l as on the one having stem 7, with said stem penetrating its hole 2) and then the other member is placed on the first so that the blade remains interposed. Then, holding the two members between the hands and in clamping relation 10 to the blade, the said members, by rotating one hand back and forth or the two hands in opposite directions andv back and forth around stem 7 as an axis, are made to undergo relative rotation: See Fig. 2, where 15 the two members appear in dotted circular outlinevat A.v The clamping action should bel suflicient to'embed the blade for one-half ,of its thickness in each (yielding) layer 6, thereby to bring the attrition action into efy fect on the extreme edge at each side 4C of the blade, as shown by Fig. 3, if the object is to refinev the edges as well as polish or otherwise treat the blade itself. The protuberance's 9. embed themselves in the operators hands and therebyafford the required grip f of the hands on the members.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is:

l. A device for sharpening the edge of a flat bladel comprising a pair of members adapted to clamp between them the blade to be sharpened and one of which is slidable on rthe clamping surface of the other, each member having its clamping surface an attrition lsurface and yieldable to the interposed blade.

' 2. i In combination, a pair of members adapted to clamp between them the article kto be subjected to attrition and each com- 40 prising a yielding pad affording an attrition surface and a stiff back therefor, and one being rotative relatively to the other on an axis penetrating them, said members having means, adapted to penetrate the interposed article, to confine said members against displacement relatively to each other radially of said axis.

35A device for sharpening the edge of a flat blade comprising a pair of members adapted to clamp between them the blade to be sharpened and one of which is slidable on the clamping surface of the other, each member comprising a' yielding pad forming its clamping surface and a stiH back therefor.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature.

' HOMER D. TRACY. 

